ABOUT US

Steve Friess is a 2011-12 recipient of the prestigious Knight-Wallace Fellowship at the University of Michigan, where he will be studying the impact of the rapid expansion of Vegas-style gaming on Asia. He's a podcaster, author and Vegas-based freelance journalist who writes regularly for USA Today, The New York Times, Newsweek and many others. His column, "The Strip Sense" appears every Thursday in the Las Vegas Weekly. His books include "Gay Vegas" from Huntington Press and Knopf Mapguides' "Las Vegas."Friess co-hosts the weekly celebrity interview podcast The Strip Podcast "The Strip" with his husband, Miles Smith, the executive producer at KSNV-TV, Channel 3. For four years, Steve also co-hosted The Petcast with Las Vegas Sun education scribe Emily Richmond.

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Thursday, June 16, 2011

As many of you know, I have a thing for visiting state capitols. So I was surprised to find this when I was in Carson City. Enjoy. -sf

Nevada’s Capitol ignores sin and our city, but we can change that

By STEVE FRIESS

If you wander around the Nevada Capitol in Carson City, you can learn quite a bit about every rock that was ever pulled from the earth anywhere in this state. You can read about several significant laws created and Supreme Court cases decided there from its 1871 opening until legislative and court buildings were constructed nearby to house those branches. Heck, you’ll even find out that the fence around the faux-silver-domed structure was built to keep animals out because the Real Housewives of Early Statehood didn’t cotton to grazing their skirt hems in dung.

Here’s what you won’t find out about: Gambling. Or Las Vegas. Or legal prostitution. You know, the three things that make Nevada interesting to the rest of the world.

Among my list of peculiar hobbies is a fetish for state capitol buildings. I’ve visited 34 of them so far, including those in Lansing, Des Moines, Lincoln and Cheyenne in the past year.

Last month, on a reporting trip to Reno, I realized I’d been to Carson City on assignment many times but never to the Nevada Capitol. So I made my partner drop me off—he finds the whole nerdy thing endearing but dull—so I could see what my own state had to offer.

1 comments:

What great hobby, visiting state capitol buildings. I must admit, as old as I am and as much as I've seen, I've never heard of that one. Personally, I've only a couple of "hobbies:" Collecting limited first edition mysteries and collating my Dad's newspaper articles (he led the Pulitzer team at the Indianapolis Times back in the 20s); both at least modestly mundane compared with that.

So, here's my recommendation - Visit Indiana's state capitol. If I recall correctly, it built (as is a good portion of Indiana University) of Indiana limestone (or granite), I don't remember which.

And, for the record, it's not at all extraordinary to me that Frederick would take out after you today. I appreciated your mea culpa of sorts on the issue, but I would expect no less from that fellow. I can't recall if you and I disagreed on the copyright issue, I think we did, and did so at least intellectually and without rancor.

In any event, I'll miss your venue and all the best in Michigan. I rather enjoy the state: I covered the Detroit riots which were about 100 years ago, and even longer ago, ran an SDS protest at the University there.

THE STRIP FINALE

Below are links to the final episodes and last week of special editions of The Strip Podcast. Right-click on any of these to save and hear at your leisure. Otherwise, click on them and they should play. Enjoy, and thanks for the wonderful years.